Simple assault — § 22.01
The simple-assault statute covers three different conduct types, each with its own baseline offense level. The Legislature wrote § 22.01(a) as three numbered subdivisions because the conduct elements are genuinely different.
- § 22.01(a)(1) — Bodily injury
- Intentionally, knowingly, or recklessly causing bodily injury to another. Bodily injury is defined broadly under § 1.07(a)(8) as physical pain, illness, or any impairment of physical condition — a bruise, a scratch, or a slap that leaves a mark all qualify. Baseline: Class A misdemeanor (up to 1 year county jail, $4,000 fine). This is the offense level that most assault aggravators step up from.
- § 22.01(a)(2) — Threat of imminent bodily injury
- Intentionally or knowingly threatening another with imminent bodily injury. Requires intent or knowledge — not reckless. Baseline: Class C misdemeanor (fine only, up to $500). The State must prove the threat communicated imminent bodily injury, not future or generalized harm.
- § 22.01(a)(3) — Offensive contact
- Intentionally or knowingly causing physical contact when the person knows or should reasonably believe the other will regard the contact as offensive or provocative. Baseline: Class C misdemeanor. No injury required.
From those three bases, § 22.01(b) and (b-1) and (b-2) enumerate enhancements that move the offense up the felony ladder. The most charged enhancement is the family-violence + prior pathway: a bodily-injury assault on a family or household member becomes a third-degree felony if the defendant has a prior FV conviction, or if the assault impedes the victim's breath or blood circulation (strangulation), or if both factors are present (then second-degree felony under § 22.01(b-3)).
Aggravated assault — § 22.02
Aggravated assault is a second-degree felony floor. The State must prove either of two aggravating elements added onto a simple-assault base:
- Serious bodily injury — defined under § 1.07(a)(46) as bodily injury creating substantial risk of death, serious permanent disfigurement, or protracted loss or impairment of a bodily member or organ.
- Use or exhibition of a deadly weapon — the defendant used or exhibited a deadly weapon during the commission. Mere possession is not enough; the weapon has to be used or displayed in connection with the assault.
Three categories of victim or circumstance enhance aggravated assault to a first-degree felony (5 to 99 years or life) under § 22.02(b):
- Against a public servant lawfully discharging official duties or in retaliation for past duties
- By a public servant acting under color of office
- Against a witness, prospective witness, informant, or person who reported a crime
- Against a security officer in the performance of duties
- Drive-by-style discharge from a motor vehicle that causes SBI
- Against a household, family, or dating-relationship member when the defendant used or exhibited a deadly weapon and caused SBI
The household-member first-degree pathway is the harshest. A household assault that involves both SBI and a deadly weapon goes from second-degree (2 to 20 years) to first-degree (5 to 99 or life) — a four-fold expansion of the top of the range.
Injury to child, elderly, or disabled individual — § 22.04
Texas treats assault against three vulnerable populations under a separate statute with sharper penalties. A child is defined as 14 or younger; elderly is 65 or older; disabled means a person who by reason of age or disability is unable to protect themselves. Offense levels vary by mental state and injury type:
| Conduct | Mental state | Offense | Cite |
|---|---|---|---|
| Serious bodily injury / mental deficiency | Intentional or knowing | 1st-degree felony | § 22.04(e) |
| Bodily injury | Intentional or knowing | 3rd-degree felony | § 22.04(f) |
| Serious bodily injury | Reckless | 2nd-degree felony | § 22.04(e) |
| Bodily injury | Reckless | State jail felony | § 22.04(f) |
| Serious bodily injury | Criminal negligence | State jail felony | § 22.04(g) |
The "by omission" prong (§ 22.04(b)) covers failure to provide care when the defendant is legally obligated to do so — a parent who fails to feed a child, a caregiver who fails to seek medical care for a disabled adult. The offense levels track the same matrix.
Deadly conduct — § 22.05
Deadly conduct is the statute the State reaches for when there's no actual victim injury but reckless conduct put someone in imminent danger.
- § 22.05(a) — Reckless endangerment. Recklessly engaging in conduct that places another in imminent danger of serious bodily injury. Class A misdemeanor. Pointing a loaded gun at a person, even without firing, is the classic factual pattern.
- § 22.05(b) — Discharge at habitation/vehicle/building. Knowingly discharging a firearm at or in the direction of a habitation, building, or vehicle, and being reckless as to whether the habitation/building/vehicle is occupied. Third-degree felony.
The drive-by-shooting fact pattern is most commonly charged under § 22.05(b). If the discharge actually caused serious bodily injury or death, the State will usually add an aggravated-assault § 22.02 count or, in death cases, murder.
Terroristic threat — § 22.07
Terroristic threat is not about terrorism in the geopolitical sense. The statute criminalizes a threat to commit any offense involving violence to person or property, made with one of six specific intents. Each intent triggers a different offense level:
| Intent — § 22.07(a) | Offense level |
|---|---|
| (1) Cause reaction by emergency agency | Class A misdemeanor |
| (2) Place any person in fear of imminent serious bodily injury | Class B misdemeanor (Class A if family/household/dating member or public servant) |
| (3) Prevent or interrupt occupation/use of building, room, place of assembly, or means of transport/communication | 3rd-degree felony |
| (4) Cause impairment or interruption of public communications, transportation, water, gas, power, or other public service | 3rd-degree felony |
| (5) Place the public or substantial group in fear of serious bodily injury | 3rd-degree felony |
| (6) Influence the conduct or activities of a branch or agency of federal, state, or local government | 3rd-degree felony |
The (a)(2) "fear of imminent SBI" prong is the most charged. A bomb threat against a school typically gets charged under (a)(3) (prevent/interrupt) and (a)(5) (place public in fear). A threat against a court official may get charged under (a)(6).
The family-violence pathway and its collateral consequences
The family-violence designation is more consequential than the underlying offense level in many cases. Family Code § 71.004 defines family violence; § 71.0021 defines dating violence. Code of Criminal Procedure art. 42.013 lets the court enter an affirmative finding of family violence on the judgment whenever an offense involves family violence. That affirmative finding triggers:
- Federal lifetime firearm ban — 18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(9), the Lautenberg Amendment, bars possession of any firearm or ammunition for life. State firearm-rights restoration does not cure the federal disability.
- Future-charge enhancement — any subsequent FV assault is automatically a third-degree felony.
- Non-disclosure ineligibility — Government Code § 411.074 bars sealing for most family-violence offenses, even on deferred adjudication.
- Immigration consequences — under 8 U.S.C. § 1227(a)(2)(E), a "crime of domestic violence" is a deportable offense for non-citizens.
The affirmative finding is sometimes the bigger fight than the conviction itself. Counsel may be willing to plead to a Class A assault if the State drops the FV finding — that single plea-negotiation move preserves Second Amendment rights for life.
The deadly-weapon finding and 3g consequences
An aggravated-assault conviction with a deadly-weapon finding is a "3g" offense under Code of Criminal Procedure art. 42A.054. Three consequences attach:
- Half-time parole eligibility under Government Code § 508.145(d) — the defendant must serve the lesser of half the sentence or 30 calendar years before parole eligibility.
- Judge-ordered probation is unavailable; only the jury can recommend probation, and only if the sentence is under 10 years.
- Subsequent offenses enhance more aggressively under Penal Code § 12.42(c).
Defending against the deadly-weapon finding is often easier than defending against the underlying assault. A fist, a vehicle, a thrown object, or a small knife requires the State to prove the "manner of use" branch — that the object as used was capable of causing death or serious bodily injury. Expert testimony from medical examiners or trauma physicians can undercut that proof on close facts.
How assault cases get won: self-defense, sudden passion, suppression
- Self-defense — Penal Code § 9.31
- A person is justified in using force when and to the degree the actor reasonably believes the force is immediately necessary to protect against another's use or attempted use of unlawful force. The presumption of reasonableness applies in defined situations (intruder in habitation, kidnapping in progress, etc.). Self-defense is an affirmative defense and the burden is on the defendant to raise it; the State then must disprove it beyond a reasonable doubt.
- Defense of third person — § 9.33
- Same standard as self-defense, applied to defending another from unlawful force the defendant reasonably believes the third person was justified in defending against.
- Sudden passion — § 19.02(d) and aggravated-assault analogue
- Not technically available for aggravated assault, but charging-stage advocacy can use the sudden-passion framework as mitigation. In murder cases it reduces a first-degree to a second-degree finding.
- Suppression — Tex. Code Crim. Proc. art. 38.23
- If officers obtained statements, weapons, or surveillance footage in violation of constitutional or statutory protections, the suppression remedy applies. In family-violence cases, suppression of body-cam audio of the alleged victim's accusation is often the case-decisive litigation.
- Confrontation Clause — Crawford v. Washington
- An out-of-court statement by a non-testifying complainant that is testimonial in nature is inadmissible. Many FV cases proceed without the complaining witness ever testifying, and the Crawford analysis can knock out the recorded statements that would have substituted.
Dispositions: dismissal, conditional plea, deferred adjudication
Most assault cases resolve short of trial. The realistic dispositions in DFW counties:
- Outright dismissal
- Common when the complainant recants, refuses to cooperate, or when suppression of key evidence guts the State's case. Often comes after a pretrial conference or a granted suppression motion.
- Pretrial diversion
- Most counties run diversion programs for first-time misdemeanor assault — Collin's FAVR program, Tarrant's diversion track, Dallas's mental-health and Lift programs. Completion produces a dismissal eligible for expunction.
- Conditional plea / reduction
- A Class A assault may plead down to Class B or Class C with conditions (anger-management classes, no-contact order, completion period). The FV finding is sometimes dropped as part of the deal.
- Deferred adjudication
- Available on all assault charges except 3g aggravated-assault offenses post-2017 (those require judge-ordered probation only after a guilty plea, or jury-only on contested trial). Deferred lets the defendant complete community supervision; success means no final conviction. But — critically — a deferred adjudication for family violence still triggers the federal firearm ban under § 922(g)(9) and is typically non-disclosure-ineligible.
- Probation / community supervision
- Available on misdemeanor and most third-degree assault offenses. Aggravated-assault second-degree felonies require jury-recommended probation and a sentence below 10 years.
